Indicator for meat-cutters.



E. W. JONES.

INDICATOR FOR MEAT GUTTERS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.12, 1911.

6 O w w 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented June 10, 1913.

witnesses COLUMBIA PLANDURAPH co., WASHINGTON. n. c

B. W. JONES.

INDICATOR FOR MEAT GUTTERS.

APPLICATION IILED 0OT.12, 1911.

Patented June 10, 1913.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

511 l uenboz Wibmewco COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CO.,WASHINUTON. D. C.

UNTTED TATF PATENT FFT.

ELLIOTT W. JONES, OF OPELIKA, ALABAMA.

INDICATOR FOR MEAT-GUTTERS.

LOG L657.

Application filed October 12, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLIOTT 7. Jonas, a citizen of the United States, residing at Opelika, in the county of Lee and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators for Meat-Cutters; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to butchering, and more especially to meat cutters; and the ob ject of the same is to produce a machine of this kind having a rocking knife for slicing purposes, combined with an indicator and feeding mechanism so that the piece of meat to be out may be fed forward a sutli cient distance (as shown by the indicator) to permit the cutting off of a slice which will aproximate the desired weight.

This invention is an improvement on my prior Patent Number 927,247, issued July 6, 1909, to the extent that a different form of feeding mechanism is employed herein and there is added to the machine the indicator by which the thickness of the slice to be out can be seen, as well as a memorandum device by means of which a subsequent user may be informed of the weight of the piece of meat when it was originally put upon the machine. The construction of the various instrumentalities embraced in this machine are described in the following specification and set forth in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine complete; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views on the lines 33 and 1 4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a detail of a portion of the dial.

As above suggested, this machine comprises several instrumentalities, to wit: a cutting mechanism mounted on a base and which mechanism does not difiier essentially from that in my prior patent hitherto referred to, a feeding mechanism for moving the piece of meat toward and under the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 10, 1913.

Serial No. 654,420.

cutting knife, an indicating mechanism actuated by the feed and which shows the thickness of the slice about to be cut, and a memorandum mechanism by which the operator who first weighs a piece of meat and places it upon the machine can leave to his successor an indication of its weight for a purpose which will be explained. The various mechanisms will now be described with as much detail as necessary to a complete understanding of their construction and of the operation of the entire device.

The cutting mechanism includes a curved knife 1 pivoted at 2 at one extremity to a bracket 3 rising from the rear of the base t which latter is here shown as made in the form of a table mounted on suitable legs 5, and the other end of the knife 1 has a handle 6 by which it may be manipulated. The table top has a transverse slot 7 near one end through which the knife descends when it is moved, and on either side of this slot is a wear plate 8 as best seen in Fig. 3. No novelty is claimed for this feature of my invention.

The feeding mechanism comprises an endless apron mounted in an opening in said base and means for moving it forward by hand. The apron is here shown as made up of three flexible belts 10 moving over a series of rollers 11 and 12 all mounted on shafts 13 which are journaled in the base, and the outermost rollers 12 having flanges 14 to prevent the side belts 10 from slipping ofl; and a hand wheel 15 is mounted fast on the front end of the outermost shaft 13 at the left of the machine as seen in Fig. 1 so that the whole apron can be advanced toward the cutting mechanism by turning this wheel. The belts 10 carry a series of slats 16 which rise a little above the top of the base a as shown, and each slat has a series of points 17 in its outer face so that the piece of meat laid upon them will not slip. By preference I employ a belt tightener 18 for adjusting one of the shafts as shown in Figs. 1 and 8, but this and other details of construction be modified to suit the wishes of the manufacturer.

The indicating mechanism is mounted on a standard rising from the base t at the back of the machine and preferably at the opposite end from the hand wheel 15, and as herein shown it comprises a casing 21 having a glass face 22 hinged as at 23 so that access to its interior may be had, a dial 2% removably secured within said casing as by screws 25, an index or hand 26 mounted on an arbor 27 journaled through the center of the casing and having a wheel 28 on its rear extremity, and connecting mechanism between this wheel and the feeding mechanism. Said connecting mechanism by preference comprises a belt 29 passing around the wheel 28 and another wheel 30 which is fast on the rear extremity of one of the shafts 13 (see Fig. i) and if these wheels are sprocket wheels the belt will of course be a sprocket belt. By preference a belt tightener 31 is carried by the standard 20 so that the belt can be set up as necessary, and the relative dimensions of the wheels 28 and 30 is such that a slight forward movement of the feed mechanism produces a considerable movement of the index. A portion of the dial is shown in Fig. 6, and by preference the machine carries with it several of such dials. Each is provided with a number of rings 33, 3 1, 35, 86 and 37 whose graduations 38 are respectively spaced farther and farther apart on different rings and all numbered from the zero line successively upward as far as possible, each ring also being provided with a designating number for a purpose to appear below.

The memorandum device is herein shown as consisting of a number of holes or sockets 40 formed in the front part of the base 4, and a single peg 41 adapted to be seated in and left remaining in any one of these holes, the latter being marked with numbers corresponding to the weight of the piece of meat being cut.

In the operation of thi machine the first operator weighs the piece of meat to be cut and places it on the platform which is here formed by the upper side of the feed apron, and assuming that it Weighs 45 pounds he puts the peg 11 in the proper hole as seen in Fig. 2. By preference he places the large end of the piece of meat toward the cutting mechanism, and the points 17 prevent it from slipping. He then turns the hand wheel until the meat approaches the knife and finally comes into contact with it; and then watching the proper circle or ring on the scale, he raises the knife, moves the feed. mechanism so as to advance the meat a distance of one graduation in the ring 35 for instance, then ceases the movement on the wheel 15 and brings down the knife 1. The latter passing between the wear plates 8 descends into the slot 7, and the result will be that the slice cut off the large end of the piece of meat will approximate one unit or weight, whatever that may be. Assuming that a unit of weight is one pound, it will be clear that the operator can. out several similar slices from the large end of the piece of meat in the same manner. If now he is called away, he leaves the peg 41 in the proper hole 40 to indicate the original weight of the piece of meat, so that opera tions can be resumed by the same operator or by another, and either will repeat the process as long as the large portion of the piece of meat is presented to the knife. When, however, so much has been removed that a smaller portion of the piece of meat is presented to the knife, it is obvious that the operator must read the indications given by the graduations in the ring next outward on the dial, because it will be necessary to feed the smaller portion of the piece of meat a little farther through the knife in order to cut off a unit of the same weight as formerly. Finally toward the smallest end of the piece of meat it will be'necessary for the operator to read the indication shown by the scale on still another ring on the dial, although at best it will require some experience to tell which series of indications will be read even when the original weight of the piece of meat is indicated by the memorandum. Ordinarily one dial will answer for meat of the average weight, but when an extremely small or an extremely large piece is to be cut up or when meat having a different specific gravity is to be cut by this machine it may be necessary to substitute another dial which can easily be done by opening the face 22 and removing the screws 25. I have illustrated and described the feed mechanism as including an endless apron and a hand wheel, and this construction I prefer rather than a pushing device manipulated by a lever because it is always in position to either feed the meat forward for making another cut or retract it if it should become necessary, is easily cleaned, and not likely to get out of repair. Other details of construction are also given in their preferred form, although I do not wish to be limited thereto; and the proportions and materials of parts are not essential to this invention.

lVhat is claimed as new is:

In a device of the character described, the combination with a movable device, of a base, a standard rising from the base, an indicator mounted on the standard, a casing secured to the upper end of the standard and having a glass hinged face, a dial removably secured within the casing, an arbor journaled through the center of the casing, an index hand mounted on the arbor, a wheel on the rear extremity of the arbor, a belt between said wheel and the movable device, a belt tightener carried by the standmy hand in presence of tWo subscribing Witard and cooperating with the belt, said dial nesses.

havin a plurality of rin s With spaces of difl'ere nt Widths, and said spaces having ELLIOTT JONES graduations thereon which are nearer one Witnesses:

side of the spaces than the other.

F. C. BLAOKMAN, In testimony whereof I have hereunto set J. H. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

